PC for design work - custom built or pre-built PC? please recommend components

[SOFTengCOMPelec]

I would have said Intel, BUT...
Looking at the website which sells components in your country, AMD seems to make more sense. (Intel seems considerably more expensive).
But if you can somehow manage it, I would recommend Intel.
So it depends on the prices you can get at YOUR 'local' dealer.

EDIT: If you insist on an answer, go Intel.
(I have both Intel and AMD, for what you describe, Intel is better).

 

[Cerb]

Cerb , mfenn, and others,
It is better to have clarity on whether to go for Intel or AMD, when I go to shops and ask a quote on price.
Given , the purpose (mentioned in my first post), I understand that I should be looking for Intel Based assembly.Correct?

Preferably, yes. AMD offers competitive CPUs at performance levels a good bit below the Core i5, and Intels will categorically use less power, which means generating less heat to deal with.

If you can afford an Intel Core i5 build, there's no good reason to go AMD, today. If not, a quad-core AMD A-series would be a good step down, right now, based on prices I've seen.

 

[mfenn]

Cerb , mfenn, and others,
It is better to have clarity on whether to go for Intel or AMD, when I go to shops and ask a quote on price.
Given , the purpose (mentioned in my first post), I understand that I should be looking for Intel Based assembly.Correct?

I agree with Cerb and SOFTengCOMPelec, Intel is better for your use case. It really comes down to pricing. If you can get an Intel i5 system without making too many compromises elsewhere (RAM, HDD size, PSU quality, etc.), then that should be your first choice. Otherwise, AMD it is.

 

[p1tin]

The budget is $1000 which is close to Rs.60000. With this in place I think I5 + SSD should be possible . Will find some free time from work and go for getting price quote.

 

[p1tin]

Finally, got time to go to the shops and get a quote:

CPU
Core I5 4430 4th Gen- Rs.12600
Core I5 4670 4th Gen- Rs.15200

AMD FX 8350- Rs.11800

Mobo
Intel® Desktop Board DB85FL - Rs.6200
AMD : M5A97EVO R2.0 - Rs.8500
for AMD : M5A97 R2.0 - Rs.6500

RAM
DDR3 8GB 1600 Corsair vengeance- Rs.4000
GSKill Ripjaws DDR3 1600-Rs.4500
HDD
1TB WD Blue- Rs.3500
1TB WD Black- Rs.5250
SSD Samsung 840 - Rs.6500

Graphics Card
ASUS GRAPHICS CARD HD7770DC 1GB DDR5 - Rs.8500
PSU
CoolerMaster 500W- Rs.3000
CoolerMaster 350W- Rs.2000
Cabinet/Casing
CoolerMaster Elite 310 - Rs.2000
300R - Rs.4650
DVD RAM drive- Rs.900
Display- 22" Acer / Viewsonic- Rs.7500

Now, I request your input which Motherboard to go for?

I do not know if the Intel 'manufactured' board are anyways made in China Franchisee units and I doubt the quality. I prefer to go for Gigabyte , Asus, Asrock , MSI boards with
USB3, Solid state Capacitors, with Anti-Humidity coating, UEFI BIOS with added security features.
The mobo should be highly Durable.

If I choose Intel I5 4430 with the Intel DB85FL , 7770card, CM Elite casing the total comes to Rs.47200.

Please help me tweak this.

 

[mfenn]

I'd go with:

i5 4430 Rs. 12600
Gigabyte GA-B85-D3H Rs. 6200
Corsair DDR3 1600 Rs. 4000
WD Blue 1TB Rs. 3500
Samsung 840 120GB Rs. 6500
PowerColor 7750 Rs. 7000
Cooler Master 500W Rs. 3000 (which model?)
Cooler Master Elite 310 Rs. 2000
DVD-RW Rs. 900
22" Monitor Rs. 7500
Total: Rs. 53,200

Taking the GPU down a notch doesn't matter for your use case and allows you to fit the SSD into your budget.

 

[p1tin]

thanks mfenn,
Flipkart is Rs.1000 more on CPU and at least Rs.300 more in many products when compared to local shop.
I may get even lesser price for 7750 in local shops.
Also the shop which I got the quote accepts credit card where I can earn points too. Will be going for this.

one more thing:
Can you let me know whether shall I go ahead with this speaker set:
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX. please read the single review in this site:
http://www.flipkart.com/klipsch-promedia-2-1-thx-multimedia-speaker/p/itmdedtebms6chfb

 

[mfenn]

The Flipkart links were so that you could reference a specific model. You should of course shop around for the best price.

As for the speakers, Klipsch ProMedia's are pretty good for computer speakers. They're not going to hold a candle to any sort of real Hi-Fi setup, but they are much better than most computer speakers.

 

[Cerb]

Do make sure your initial motherboard and RAM options allow for easy increase in RAM capacity. I imagine going to 16GB will be on the horizon. Otherwise, though, +1 to mfenn's suggestion, and with being able to fit an SSD in the budget, just see how long 8GB can last.

 

[p1tin]

ok, Thanks Cerb, mfenn.
Will be watching out for price drops in local stores n online stores too. got to get a 'go ahead' from my cousin when money is arranged. she is busy with work now.. will update in a week or two. Thanks all.

 

[p1tin]

I need clarity on these things before I assemble the system;

About the Mobo chipset:

1. Should I get a mobo with new chipset 87 or just go with the 85. Will it be worthwhile investment to get new chipset?
2. what is advantage of going for new 87 chipset?

To put it a simple question:
Gigabyte GA-B85-D3H Motherboard ?
or
Gigabyte H87-D3H motherboard?

2. I understand it would be better to connect the SSD to 6GBps port on the mobo.
How to identify which is 6GBps port in the above mentioned mobo s? Is it by coloring code or got to refer the mobo manual?

About SSD s :

I read the sticky thread about SSD s in the storage section....and this is lil bit of a concern to me:

"Do NOT endlessly run anything that writes huge amounts of useless data to your SSD."

Given that SSD gives a significant boost to the speed of the system & that I will be going for Samsung 840 120GB & 1TB WD for Data.....

1. Is it preferred to install the Adobe photoshop , 3D studio max and all other software which will be frequently used , on the SSD ?
or
should these software, which will have frequent read/writes ( my assumption) be installed on the the mechanical HDD ( 1TB WD).
2. How about installing Games on SSD? should this be done on a 1TB mechanical drive?

-->Can you give kind of...a rule of thumb on these?

3. My deduction is that AHCI mode is better than IDE mode for SATA mechanical drives and is a necessary condition for SSD s....AHCI --> When I enable AHCI in my current Mobo ( with AMD processor), the system does not boot, I have to set it as IDE for it to work.
So,
For the new system to function with AHCI mode, should it be enabled before installing Windows 7?

4. Do the 1TB mechanical drive ever go to 6GBps transfer rates...practical usage wise..?

 

[Cerb]

1. Should I get a mobo with new chipset 87 or just go with the 85. Will it be worthwhile investment to get new chipset?

They're equally new. All the 8-series are the same chip, just with different features turned on.
H gives you RAID and SRT capability, mostly, while Z gives you overclocking capability.

2. I understand it would be better to connect the SSD to 6GBps port on the mobo.
How to identify which is 6GBps port in the above mentioned mobo s? Is it by coloring code or got to refer the mobo manual?

Typically, yes (they're usually a different color, but there isn't a standardized color scheme).

"Do NOT endlessly run anything that writes huge amounts of useless data to your SSD."

Huge amounts is key. That's along the lines of averaging tens of GBs per day.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6459/samsung-ssd-840-testing-the-endurance-of-tlc-nand

How about installing Games on SSD? should this be done on a 1TB mechanical drive?

SSDs are expensive for ther capacity, but fast. You can only fit so much, so you must prioritize by what you benefit most from, in terms of speed-ups.

3. My deduction is that AHCI mode is better than IDE mode for SATA mechanical drives and is a necessary condition for SSD s....AHCI --> When I enable AHCI in my current Mobo ( with AMD processor), the system does not boot, I have to set it as IDE for it to work.
So,
For the new system to function with AHCI mode, should it be enabled before installing Windows 7?

Other modes will work, and you can do a reg hack to enable AHCI afterwards, but installing the OS with it turned on makes Windows load the AHCI driver automatically, and that improves performance from the start, for both the HDD and SSD, by having NCQ immediately. It's not necessary to get things working, but it's a good idea for Windows 7+.

4. Do the 1TB mechanical drive ever go to 6GBps transfer rates...practical usage wise..?

No. 120-150MBps is their practical limit, and around 180MBps raw read near the edge if the platter.

 

[Agent11]

All you people recomending crap video cards would make this build fail hard for its designated purpose, which I assume isn't simply for fun. Time is money, and when working with large files more Vram means less time.

-Graphics processing,Architecture softwares, AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max with VRaY and other plugin photoshop etc. other purpose include using it for internet browsing, downloading, Microsoft office, watching HD movies, songs etc

http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vray.html

Vray
System requirements

• A computer with 3ds Max 9/3ds Max Design 9 or later (32- or 64- bit versions) or Autodesk VIZ 2008;
• Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 32 or 64-bit versions (64-bit is recommended);
• Intel Pentium IV or compatible processor with SSE2 support (dual Pentium IV or AMD Opteron or later recommended);
• 128 MB RAM and 350 MB swap minimum - recommended 4 GB or more RAM, 4 GB or more swap file.

Photoshop
System requirements
Windows

Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor (2GHz or faster)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1 or Windows 8
1GB of RAM
2.5GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash storage devices)
1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with OpenGL® 2.0, 16-bit color, and 512MB of VRAM (1GB recommended)*
Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, membership validation, and access to online services.†

Yes a 1gb card would work, but it would be slow.

AMD FX-4130 Zambezi 3.8GHz Socket AM3+ Quad-Core $105 (you could shave this down more by going dual core)

ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ AMD 760G HDMI USB 3.0 uATX AMD Motherboard $65

HIS IceQ H785QT4G2M Radeon HD 7850 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready $260

I would go with 8gb of system ram at the least, those programs love memory.

Assuming this build includes everything including monitor and peripherals you will not be able to afford intel while having decent performance, while working with large files.

 

[Cerb]

Then how you do you get more CPU performance, after that? You basically don't. The CPU would be stuck slower than an i3 for 90% of the work. Why do that?

3DS Max is pretty much the only thing that's going to be significantly GPU-limited, and it also will end up CPU-limited, just like everything else. A Geforce would be a little faster for it, though (GT 640 or GTX 650, maybe?).

A video card can be quickly, easily, and relatively cheaply added or replaced. The same can't be said for swapping to a Core i5 from an FX. Thus, with a limited budget, CPU first.

 

[Agent11]

Photoshop can get pretty demanding when working on large files and using filters as well.

I think more vram and bus would add more productivity out of the box than the difference between intel and amd at these tasks.

 

[mfenn]

All you people recomending crap video cards would make this build fail hard for its designated purpose, which I assume isn't simply for fun. Time is money, and when working with large files more Vram means less time.

Are you being serious here? Have you used any of these programs before? Just because it has "graphics" in the name does not mean that it is GPU-bound.

-Graphics processing,Architecture softwares, AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max with VRaY and other plugin photoshop etc. other purpose include using it for internet browsing, downloading, Microsoft office, watching HD movies, songs etc

All of those programs are pro tools that primarily use the CPU for final output. The GPU is only used for the viewport, which is intentionally lower quality, and to assist computation of the final result. For example, anything above a ~GTX 650 Ti gives no benefit in Photoshop whereas spending an extra $50 to get a quad would double performance.

 

[Agent11]

It depends on how you are using the software.

When working with large assemblies with lots of fine detail you will notice the extra Vram and rambus.

 

[Torn Mind]

I'm not going to suggest anything here as I don't know how Photoshop works. But, out of curiosity in case I ever purchase Photoshop myself and perhaps a catalyst to ending this little skirmish, just what parts/features of photoshop uses the GPU portion of the system and what things uses the CPU+regular RAM of the system?

Really, it is a matter of time saved from the faster CPU vs the time saved from the faster GPU.

 

[Agent11]

Larger displays and multiple displays. It takes more graphics card memory to display more pixels. Connecting an external monitor will use more VRAM because you increase the total display area that has to be updated.

Adding a display for productivity and working on multiple large documents is not uncommon.

Larger documents and multiple documents. The more graphics documents you have open, the more video RAM it takes to manipulate them.
3D. Applications with 3D features commonly have them handled by the GPU and its VRAM. For example, if you use the 3D features in Photoshop Extended or Adobe After Effects, the VRAM and 3D capabilities of your card matter more than if you only edit 2D images.

GPU-accelerated features. Certain features use the GPU to perform dramatically faster, such as Liquify in Photoshop CS6 or the Mercury Graphics Engine in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. Features like these often need a specific GPU and a minimum amount of VRAM to achieve the speed boost.

Keep in mind that the cheapest professional card with 4gb of ram and a 256 bit bus is $700. Obviously OP does not have the budget for this, the card I referred would allow somewhat similar performance in many tasks.

It is hard to compare the performance of intel with 1gb 128bit card vs amd with 4gb 256bit card because although the cpu would be faster you would still bog down in the above areas.

Depends heavily on the usage.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/700?vs=837

 

[Torn Mind]

Larger displays and multiple displays. It takes more graphics card memory to display more pixels. Connecting an external monitor will use more VRAM because you increase the total display area that has to be updated.

Adding a display for productivity and working on multiple large documents is not uncommon.

Larger documents and multiple documents. The more graphics documents you have open, the more video RAM it takes to manipulate them.
3D. Applications with 3D features commonly have them handled by the GPU and its VRAM. For example, if you use the 3D features in Photoshop Extended or Adobe After Effects, the VRAM and 3D capabilities of your card matter more than if you only edit 2D images.

GPU-accelerated features. Certain features use the GPU to perform dramatically faster, such as Liquify in Photoshop CS6 or the Mercury Graphics Engine in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. Features like these often need a specific GPU and a minimum amount of VRAM to achieve the speed boost.

Yes, more pixels to draw requires more graphics power draw the picture and more VRAM store the graphics data en route to the GPU cores. Only problem is that the OP's cousin does not even have a monitor currently and wants a 19-22" monitor. Hence, he will, until his supply of funds expands, require only 1920x1080 pixels for the GPU core to draw maximum in the near future. For an estimated two years, as according to his opening post, he does not have or will not commit the funds to have such a luxurious multi-monitor setup or any other upgrade.

Lower end cards do have options with more VRAM as well.

The GPU-acceleration has documented evidence in which once you go above a Radeon HD 7750 or GTX 650.

Total time to complete = time for GPU-dependent tasks to complete+time for CPU-dependent tasks to complete. Number of hard drives and system RAM also affect time for a task to complete, but with his budget, he is limited in those areas too to the bare minimum of 8 GB and 1 disk.

However, these GPU gains in time MUST offset that approximately halved or slightly less than halved performance of the FX-4130 compared to the i5. Any CPU task is going to take approximately twice as long.

As far as I can see, whatever configuration is the final, it will be less than ideal for hardcore Photoshop. The matter here is to help him pick out the best from the limited funds he has. Your case will hold IF the tasks he performs are the gpu-limited tasks and not those that are CPU-limited, RAM-limited, or the hard drive slowing down everything.

 

[Agent11]

Yes, more pixels to draw requires more graphics power draw the picture and more VRAM store the graphics data en route to the GPU cores. Only problem is that the OP's cousin does not even have a monitor currently and wants a 19-22" monitor. Hence, he will, until his supply of funds expands, require only 1920x1080 pixels for the GPU core to draw maximum in the near future. For an estimated two years, as according to his opening post, he does not have or will not commit the funds to have such a luxurious multi-monitor setup or any other upgrade.

Lower end cards do have options with more VRAM as well.

The GPU-acceleration has documented evidence in which once you go above a Radeon HD 7750 or GTX 650.

Total time to complete = time for GPU-dependent tasks to complete+time for CPU-dependent tasks to complete. Number of hard drives and system RAM also affect time for a task to complete, but with his budget, he is limited in those areas too to the bare minimum of 8 GB and 1 disk.

However, these GPU gains in time MUST offset that approximately halved or slightly less than halved performance of the FX-4130 compared to the i5. Any CPU task is going to take approximately twice as long.

As far as I can see, whatever configuration is the final, it will be less than ideal for hardcore Photoshop. The matter here is to help him pick out the best from the limited funds he has. Your case will hold IF the tasks he performs are the gpu-limited tasks and not those that are CPU-limited, RAM-limited, or the hard drive slowing down everything.

Would switching to AMD free up enough funds for a 2-4gb 128bit vram bus gddr5 card and a second monitor though?
May be worth checking. Especially if this rig is not intended to be upgraded any time soon.

Here in the US a 2gb 128bit vram bus gddr5 card like the geforce gtx 650 is $120, the 7770 can be had for $135, you could drive 2 or 3 monitors with either of these, and monitors can be had pretty cheap.

Both have a 128bit bus, but have fast gddr5 memory, so the impact is lessened. To go to 3 or 4 gb of memory the cost goes over $200 pretty quick. . .If you insist on gddr5 memory, which is what makes the 128 bit bus not suck, so it should be non negotiable in my opinion.

http://www.flipkart.com/msi-nvidia-...DXKZ&ref=0b104491-e781-4f02-8c46-d3d98d9505a5
MSI NVIDIA N650-2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5
Rs. 8904
or
http://www.flipkart.com/asus-amd-at...MGBH&ref=02d8d2cc-21df-4ac0-823f-0a5779825bbe
Asus AMD/ATI Radeon HD 7770 2 GB GDDR5
Rs. 11057


Something to consider when looking at cpu's, the Intel I5 4430 is not often benchmarked, and it is not equivalent to other intel cpu's in the line.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/75036,75047,75043

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4430+@+3.00GHz

PassMark - CPU Mark
High End CPUs - Updated 20th of August 2013

Intel Core i5-4430 @ 3.00GHz
6,366

AMD FX-6300 Six-Core
6,385

AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core
9,111

http://www.flipkart.com/amd-4-4-ghz...D3DR&ref=ad2d3597-f776-4506-ae8f-bf57f834496f
AMD 4.4 GHz AM3+ FX 6-Core Edition FX-6300
Rs. 7579

http://www.flipkart.com/asus-m5a78l...FRJF&ref=976ce4e5-72f4-4cc9-821e-79c658000839
ASUS M5A78L-M LX V2 Motherboard
Rs. 3385


http://www.flipkart.com/gigabyte-ga...6Z7S&ref=81e491ce-f542-424c-a1c2-a667deab6245
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Motherboard
Rs. 5675

http://www.flipkart.com/amd-fx-8350...TSWY&ref=a49f57b6-a110-4353-a64d-c4adcd594a1f
AMD FX 8350
Rs. 13166

AMD motherboards with integrated graphics support hybrid crossfire, which would allow the onboard gpu to assist an AMD primary GPU. . . Although in practice I think it works out a little wonky, like you have to have a specific low level card to activate it. Something to consider.

Also I am not sure how the implementation of this feature works with the socket FM2 trinity APU's. However it may be favorable for such a tight budget.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dual-graphics-crossfire-benchmark,3583-2.html FM2 AMD apu 'dual graphics' tests with 6670 card.

I have no experience running such hybrid gpu configs personally though.


I decided to see what kind of value you could get with AMD. 8 core piledriver with 8bg corsair 1600ddr3 cl9 ram, 2gb gddr5 GeForce 650, 2 Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monitors, case power supply hard disk and optical disk drive for Rs. 57660, less if you go for the six core cpu and or cheaper motherboard.


Internal Optical Drive
LiteOn IHAS124-04 DU/IHAS122-05 WU DVD Burner Internal Optical Drive
Delivered in 7-8 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 1047

Rs. 1047
Cooler Master N300 NSE-300-KKN1 Mid Tower Cabinet
Cabinet
Cooler Master N300 NSE-300-KKN1 Mid Tower Cabinet
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 4329

Rs. 4329
WD 1 TB Black Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD...
Internal Hard Drive
WD 1 TB Black Desktop Internal Hard Drive (WD1002FAEX)
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 5988

Rs. 5988
Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monitor...
Monitor
Dell S2240L 21.5 inch LED Backlit LCD Monitor (Black)
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 9440

Rs. 9440
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) PC RAM (CMX...
Ram
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) PC RAM (CMX4GX3M1A1600C9)
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
2
Change
Rs. 5006

Rs. 5006
MSI NVIDIA N650-2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Graphics Card
MSI NVIDIA N650-2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5 Graphics Card
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 8904

Rs. 8904
Processor
AMD FX 8350
Delivered in 2-3 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 13166

Rs. 13166
Seller: TheITWares
Seasonic ECO 600 600 Watts PSU
Psu
Seasonic ECO 600 600 Watts PSU
Delivered in 5-6 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 4105

+ Delivery charge?
Rs. 4105
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Motherboard
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 Motherboard
Delivered in 5-6 business days.
1
Change
Rs. 5675

+ Delivery charge?
Rs. 5675

Amount Payable
Rs. 57660

So I think you could have a more productive workstation by going with AMD, definately.

 

[mfenn]

Larger displays and multiple displays. It takes more graphics card memory to display more pixels. Connecting an external monitor will use more VRAM because you increase the total display area that has to be updated.

In theory yes, in practice the actual amount of RAM needed for the frambuffer is miniscule. Assuming 24-bit color, you need a whopping 12MB for each 2560x1600 display. The actual throughput (speed times width) of the memory bus simply does not matter for these sorts of operations. Assuming a super slow DDR3 1600 memory bus that's only 64-bits wide, you can transfer the whole display's worth of images 1067 times per second.

Something to consider when looking at cpu's, the Intel I5 4430 is not often benchmarked, and it is not equivalent to other intel cpu's in the line.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/75036,75047,75043

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i5-4430+@+3.00GHz

PassMark - CPU Mark
High End CPUs - Updated 20th of August 2013

Intel Core i5-4430 @ 3.00GHz
6,366

AMD FX-6300 Six-Core
6,385

AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core
9,111

Passmark is a pure synthetic benchmark that scales perfectly. It provides no information other than how fast a CPU can run Passmark. That's the reason that you never see any real review sites use it. What matters is how fast the CPU runs actual applications. See the benchmarks that you yourself linked.

 

[Agent11]

Yet you are linking a benchmark for the 4670 in reference to the 4430's speed. the 4430 is 3.0 ghz, with a max turbo of 3.2. The 4670 is 3.5ghz with a max turbo of 3.8. The 4430 is also missing support for Intel® vPro Technology, Intel® TSX-NI, and Intel® Trusted Execution Technology.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75036,75047,75043

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
i5 4670 - 7563
i5 4430 - 6366

If you have a more applicable direct comparison benchmark I would be happy to see it.

 

[Torn Mind]

Proper evaluation of benchmarks requires at least a general understanding of how the variables involved interact with each other. Dimensional analysis helps in that regard.

What the processor does per second is dependent on three general variables: clock speed, core utilization, and how much the processor does per clock.
Clock speed is simply set to a certain frequency or range of frequencies. It is the easiest variable to figure out because it is simply "set".

Core utilization requires the hardware having the cores and the software being programmed to utilize the extra cores. At the very least, Task Manager or an equivalent would need to be used to monitor the software.

How much the processor does per clock is affect by both software and hardware is by far the most difficult variable to derive an actual value. Figuring out this variable requires a bit more work. Both hardware and software differences can cause it to vary.

The simplest way to put the variables in equation form is to use instructions per second(IPS) and instructions per clock (IPC).

IPS = (IPC*clockspeed)*core utilization

By determining the IPS of a single core, it theoretically becomes a matter of multiplication to determine the IPS of multiple cores

The i5-4430's architectural design is identical to all of its other Haswell brethren. In other words, the many microcircuits within the chip are designed according to the same specifications as any other Haswell chip. Of course, Intel does blow the fuses to some of the circuits on the various models of silicon to remove access to features, but the design of the circuits are the same. So, when comparing speed between and i5-4430 and another i5 Haswell chip, clock speed is the primary factor in determining discrepancies in an individual core's speed, with ISA extension support coming in a distant second as they are application specific. Hence, when comparing it with other i5s, clock speed becomes an absolute indicator of performance. Then the task becomes a matter of determining how much slower the i5-4430 than another Haswell i5.

In summary, this is virtually the entire extent of the non-equivalence of the i5-4430 from its other Haswell brethren: clock speed, ISA extension support, core count, and Hyperthreading support. Compared with just other Haswell i5s, it is a matter of just clock speed and support for certain ISA extensions.

Now, for Passmark, it is a piece of software that utilizes every core. Also, the FX-6300 is also architecturally different from the i5-4430. The reason its score is nearly equal to the i5-4430 is primarily due to it having more cores and it being slower per core than the i5.

Now, back the actual processor war at hand betwen the FX-4130 and the i5-4430, the FX-4130 does not have the benefit of two extra cores and the percentage discrepancy between the two chips is about 33% when using Passmark. A significantly large gap, and not unreasonable given the lower Turbo of the i5-4430 compared to the i5-4670K.

So, after all this, we are still back to square one. The FX-4130's speed is about 5/9ths as fast as the 4670K and 2/3rds as fast as the 4430, assuming Passmark's results can be extrapolated.
So, the matter is whether this sacrifice in CPU speed will be offset and more by getting a more powerful GPU.

 

[Torn Mind]

Yet you are linking a benchmark for the 4670 in reference to the 4430's speed. the 4430 is 3.0 ghz, with a max turbo of 3.2. The 4670 is 3.5ghz with a max turbo of 3.8. The 4430 is also missing support for Intel® vPro Technology, Intel® TSX-NI, and Intel® Trusted Execution Technology.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/75036,75047,75043

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php
i5 4670 - 7563
i5 4430 - 6366

If you have a more applicable direct comparison benchmark I would be happy to see it.

Lacking certain ISA extensions should have an observable effect if an/the application actually utilizes those extensions. It is unlikely that the apps are here right now. In addition, vPro technology is "a set of security and managability capabilities built into the processor...". It is unlikely that any benchmark would actually test out vPro technology or if vPro technology actually does any performance boosting at all. TSX-NI does affect the performance of some apps. Whether the next iteration of the programs the OP's cousin will use will incorporate it, is up to the developers.